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Israel denies unilateral move to attack Iran

Israel has denied that it is negotiating with the US over a unilateral strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel had carried out an air strike over Iraq's nuclear installations in Osirak in 1981.

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JERUSALEM: Israel has denied that it is negotiating with the US over a unilateral strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

"International authorities, particularly in the West, who want to avoid direct involvement with Iran, are anxious to spread the story that we will strike Iran," Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel Radio on Sunday in response to such reports in the British media.

"Those who do not want to work politically, diplomatically and economically are diverting attention to the operation that we are said to be conducting," Sneh said. The international community should focus on imposing economic sanctions on Iran for defying UN Security Council resolutions, he added.

British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, had earlier reported that Israel is negotiating with the US over permission for an 'air corridor' over Iraq to carry out an air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if it becomes necessary.

The report cited an unnamed senior Israeli defence official as saying that talks are currently underway between the two countries over the possibility that Jerusalem decides to take unilateral action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

"We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," the official was quoted as saying.

"The only way to do this is to fly through US controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other," he reportedly said.

Contingency planning has accelerated significantly since the beginning of the year in light of Mossad estimates that Iran could have the necessary amount of fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon by 2009, it said.

An announcement by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently that Meir Dagan, head of Mossad and a leading expert on Iran, would postpone his retirement until the end of 2007 at the earliest has also fuelled speculations over an Israeli preparation.

Olmert also handed over coordination of military aspects of the Iran nuclear issue to Israel Air Force Commander Eliezer Shkedy.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany are scheduled to meet on Monday in London for an emergency session on the matter.

Officials will discuss arms control and a possible cutback in the $25 billion in export credits which European countries use to trade with Iran.

Iran ignored a UN deadline set for last Wednesday to stop its uranium enrichment. Israel has described the Iranian nuclear programme and existential threat while leaders in Tehran have repeatedly argued that it is meant for peaceful purposes.

Israel had carried out an air strike over Iraq's nuclear installations in Osirak in 1981.

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